Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



J. BROUGHTON.

Breech Loading Fire Arm.

Patented Aprif` 14, I868.

@aitrh taies garant @ffice- JOHYN BROUGHTON, OF NEW YORK, N'. Y.

Leiters Patent No. 76,595, dated April 14, 1868; antedated October 14, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN BEREICH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

dite tlgehule referat tu in tigen tettrrl @anni mit mating init otite inne.

T0 ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, JOHN BROUGHTON, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brecon-Loading Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- A Figure lis a side view of the breech part of a gun constructed according to my invention, showing a portion of the breech-receiver removed, to expose the breech-piece and lock to view.

Figure 2 is a similar view, representing the parts in a different position from lig. 1.

Figure 3 exhibits a vertical longitudinal section of the breech-piece and lock.

Figure 4 is a rear view of the breech-piece and the upper part of its operating-lever.

Figure 5 is a transverse section in the plane indicated by the line-a: a: in fig. 1.

Figure 6, a transverse Section of the recoil-brace and the hammer-shaft.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in. the several ignres.

This invention consists in an improvement in the means of unlocking, opening, c swinging breech-piece of a breech-loading fire-arm; also, in anovel means of half cocking the hammer by the act of' opening such swinging breech-piece; also, in a novel arrangement in such swinging breech-piece of the tiring-pin, through which the hammer is made to explode the fulminate priming of the cartridge; and further, in novel means of operating the cartridge-shell extractor by the act of opening -such swinging breechpiece.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct my invention and apply it to use, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A is the breech-receiver, which is mortised out for the `reception of the breech-piece B, and into which tne barrel C is screwed or otherwise secured in a suitable manner. The breech-piece B, made in the form of a cylindrical sector, and fitted between the sides of this mortise, is arranged to swing on a fixed shaft, a, which losing, and' locking the is inserted through the breech-receiver A, with its axis some distance below and in the same pla-ne with the' rear opening of the chamber of the barrel; and the face e of; this breech-piece, which closes the chamber, is radial or nearly so to the axis of the shaft a. The said -breech-piece is made with a hub, 14, which projects forward under the socket-like portion ofthe breech-receiver into which the barrel is inserted.

To provide for the insertion of the ring-pin D within the breech-piece, and the reception of the lever E by which the breech-piece is operated, and which also serves as the trigger-guard, the breech-piece is divided centrally, vertically, and longitudinally, into two parts, which are secured together` by two screws, b b, fig. 3, inserted transversely through the two.

The :tiring-pin D, upon which the hammer strikes, and through which it acts to produce the explosion ofthe fulminate priming arranged in the head of the cartridge-shell, is itself of a form substantiallylike that of u hammer, as shown in figs. 1 and 3, and it works upon the shaft a. The are upper portion of this pin, which is concentric with the shaft a, works in an arc-formed guide-groove', d, fig. 3, turncd'or otherwise cut in each half of the breeeh-piece, and its nose is caused, by the blow of the hammer, to protrude through the face c of thc breeelipiece far enough to indent the primed part of the head of the cartridge and produce its discharge. The head e of the saidpin is exposed to the action of the hammer through a suitable opening in the brcech piece, but is so far back as to be always covered up by. the partfof the breech-receiver, which fits snugly enough against the arc-formed back of the breech-piece, to prevent dirt from entering the lock through the upper opening of the mortise in the breech-receiver.

The hammer G is arranged within the breech-receiver, with only its comb g projecting through a slot of such length and width as to permit of the necessary movement of the comb in cooking and firing, and this slot is filled by the head of the hammer, so that dirt is prevented from entering the lock by thc opening provided in the receiver for the hammer.

The hammer works upon a nxed shaft, 7i, which is inserted through and secured in thc sides of the breechreceiver', at about the same height as the shaft a, relatively to the line of bore of the barrel; and this pin also serves as a pivot for the swinging recoil-brace II, which serves to brace the breech-piece at the time of iii-ing. This brace, which is wider than the hammer, locks the breech-piece when the latter is closed, as shown in iig. 1, by entering two notches, z', iigs. l and 2, provided one in cach side of the bacl: part of the breech-piece.

The lower part of the said brace is mortised, as shown at j in fig. (i, to admit the tumblerl G ofthe hammer, and the upper part of the same is slotted, as shown at in the same figure, for the passage of the nose of the hammer, but a portion of the said brace, between the upper and lower slotted portions, is left solid, as shown in section at Z Z in figs. 3 and 6, and in dotted outline in figs. 1 and 2.

Instead oi' Vbeing thus made of a single piece, and mortiscd, the said brace muy be made of two pieces,

having interposed between them an anti-friction roller in the position occupied by the solid portion Z Z. The said brace has applied to it, on opposite sides of the hammer, two springs, m, figs. 1 and 2, which press it for ward against the breech-piece, the said springs being made with eyes to fitY the trigger-pin n, and bearing against shoulders p, provided in the breech-receiver.

The lever E is not rigidly connected with the breech-piece B, but pivoted into a mortise therein by a pin, g, on which it is allowed a movement limited by a stop, r, in the breech-piece, and a shoulder, s, on the lever itself. The upper part of this lever, which is within the breech-block, has its back part of a predio-form, corresponding with the arc-formed back of the breech-piece.

I is the cartridge-shell extractor, consisting of la sliding piece fitted to work under the barrel, in a groove in the breech-receiver, having an npturned end formed to fit the neck and front part of thc head of the cartridgeshells, and having ou its under side a toothed rack, which gears with a toothed sector, J, figs. 2 and 5, pivoted by a pin, t, into the lower front portion-ot` the receiver. On one side of this sector there is a hub, J, in which is a notch, u, for the reception of a hook, K, which is connected by a pin, v, with the breech-block, and which is held down in contact with the said hub by means of a spring, L, secured within the breech-receiver.

Let it be supposed that the gun has just been tired; the several parts are in the respective positions represented in iig. 1, and the operations of reloading and of halt` cockingr the hammer are effected by the manipulation of the lever E in the following manner: The lever is pulled downward and forward from the stock, and as its upper part is drawn back from the stop r, where it has been previously held by the recoil-brace H having been pressed against it by the springs m m, the said part presses baci: against the front of the part Z Z of the said brace, and so presses back the said brace out of the notches 1' of the breech-piece, and unlocks the latter, while at the same time the back of the said part, ZZ, of the brace presses backthe hammer to halt' cock, as shown in fig. 2. By the time the breech-piece has been thus unlocked, the forward portion of the shoulder s of the said lever has come into contact with the bottom of the breech-piece B, and the continued downward and forward movement of the lever causes the breech-piece to swing backward and downward, through the open bottom of mortise in the receiver A, to open the chamber oi the barrel, After the face, c, ofthe breech-piece has moved back from the rear of the chamber a sufficient distance, the hook K, moving backl with the breechpiece, comes into operation on the tooth z, formed in rear of the notch u of the hub J of the sector J, and the further continued downward and forward movement of the lever, and opening oi' the breech-piece, causes the said hook, by its action on the said tooth, to pull the sector forward, and by that means to move forward the extractor I, which is thus made to withdraw the discharged cartridge-shell from the chamber of the barrel.

By the time the shell has been thus withdrawn, as shown in iig. 2, the portion, w, of the hub J in front of the notch u has, by its cam-like action on the hook K, lifted the said hook from the tooth c, and the sector being then left finder the influence of the spring gj, is thrown forward by the said spring, and the extractor is thereby returned to the position shown in iig. 1, ready for reloading.

The gun being held upright at the time the shell is thus withdrawn, the cartridge-shell will drop out of the receiver, though, if the opening movement of the breech be quickly performed, the great range of the sector, as compared with that of the tooth z on the hub J, upon which the hook acts, gives such great rapidity of movement to the ejector that it will throw the shell out, whatever may be the position in which the gun is held.' The breech-piece is prevented from opening further than is necessary to eicct the velocity by coming in contact with a stop, 12, in the receiver, as shown in fig. 2.

The operation of reloading is simply to introduce a cartridge into the chamber oi` the barrel, and return the lever E to the position shown iu iig. 1, close under the stock. In this movement, the upper end of the lever, coming into contact with the stop 1' in the breech-piece, brings the latter to its closed position, and causes it, in doing so, to push the cartridge home into the chamber; and as, during this movement, the upper parts of the notches in the breech-piece pass the upper end of the recoil-brace I-I, the springs m m press the said brace into the notches, so that by the time the breech is closed, the said end of the brace has come home into the said notches and locked the breech-piece, leaving the hammer at half cock.

When it is desired to fire, the hammer is drawn back to full cock by applying the thumb to the comb, and the hammer is then 1ct ott' by pulling the trigger in the usual manner, which causes it to strike on the head e of the tiring-pin, and drive the nose of the latter against or into the primed part of the cart-ridge.

The axis of the respective shafts a and t of the breech-block B and brace H, being, as hereinbefore stated, at about the same height, relatively to the line of bore oi' the barrel, and consequently both in a plane perpendicular, or thereabouts, to the face, c, of the closed breech-piece, and the angle formed by two lines drawn from the said axis, and meeting in the apex 13 of the recoil-brace when the breech-piece is closed, being considerably greater than a right angle, the brace H does not act merely as a right-angled prop to resist thc opening tendency of the breech-piece at the time of the discharge; but the said apex occupying, when the breechpiece is closed, a position forward of the culminating-point at which it would form a right-angled prop, the

recoil or back pressure produced'by the explosion, and acting upon the'face oi' the breech-piece, has a tendency to carry the said apex still further forward, with a toggle-like action upon the breech-piece, and thus to pressV and lock the breech-piece and the rear face 'of the barrel more firmly together, transmitting the whole force of the recoil in the manner of a direct longitudinal tensile strain on the breech-receiver A, the tensile strength of which must be the measure of the greatest strain of which any breech-loading {ire-arm is'capable. b

The breech-piece is, moreover, lstill further'sustaincd inits closed position, and prevented from being blown out, by the forward projection 14 of its hub passing under the socket-like portion of the breech-receiver, into which the barrel is inserted,while its arc-formed back is in contact with the receiver at the pontf.

Thus, it may be understood that the breech-piece cannot lie opened or displaced otherwise than by the proper action of the lever E; and accidents arising from defective cartridge-shells, or the leakage of gases, tending to displace the mechanism, are eifectually guarded against. l

I will remark, in conclusion,"that the ejector-mechanism may be considerably modified from 4that repre sented, without essentially changing its character For instance,A the portion, w, of the hub J which disengeges the hook K may be cut away or omitted, and the 'spring y dispensed with, and the spring L be made to very rapidly completo the action of the ejector commenced by the hooh K. vThe tooth z of the hub J must in thath I case be Se constructed and arranged that, after the hook has moved it a certain distance, the point of the said tooth will so fai-'pass a ,position vertically above the axisof the sector, thatA the downward pressure of the hook, produced upon `it by the spring L,'will complete the backward movementy of the ejector. In such case the ejector and sector will be returned bythe pressure of the head of the cartridge against the former in'reloading.

Having thus described my invention, I will proceed to state what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters lPatent.

L The combinationof the swinging breech-piece B, which, in opening, swings down through the open bottom of the breech-receiver; the swinging recoil-brace H,lworking upon an axis, h, arranged, relatively to the axis of the breech-piece, incr nearly'inthe same plane, perpendicular to the face of the closed breechpiece; upon the front of the bruce H, and through it upon the hammer; the spring or'springs m, held in place by the trigger-pin 1L, and acting on the rear of the brace'H; the hammer G, vibrating on the-axisvh, independent of the brace H, and with its head working, relatively to the breech-receiver, in such manner that the slot in the upper surface of the receiver, through which the comb of the hammer projects, is filled by the said head both at the down and full-cock positions of' the hammer, the whole arranged and constructed to operate together, substantially as'herein shown and described.

2. The firing-pin D, constructed in the form of a hammer, and swinging within, but su'iicently independent of, the swinging breech-piece, upon the saine shaft or axis as the breech-piece itself swings upon, as herein described.

the lever E, pivoted to the lower and-rear portion of the swinging breech-piece, and acting centrally',

3. The hook K, spring L, and sector J, in combinationswith each other and with the swinging'breech-piece` and extractor, substantially as and for the-purpose herein specified.

- JOHN BROUGHTON.

Witnesses: v

J. W. Coeurs. G. W. REED. 

